This Month at FACTNetWelcome to a special, expanded issue of the FACTNet newsletter for the combined months of June and July. We are pleased to include a letter from Dr. Ed Lottick, Acting Chairman of the original Cult Awareness Network (CAN), as part of new cooperation between that organization and FACTNet. FACTNet is also taking the opportunity of this newsletter to announce that we are considering hosting a conference on cults and mind control in the Denver, Colorado area in early to mid-1999. Please see a special announcement regarding the potential conference on page 5. We would also very much appreciate your taking the time to complete the brief conference planning questionnaire on the last page of the newsletter. Your responses will greatly help FACTNet make decisions related to the planning of what we hope will be an exceptional conference. We would also like to take the opportunity to express our gratitude for the donations, volunteer support, and words of encouragement we have received from so many people. Particularly, FACTNet would like to send sincere thanks to an anonymous donor who just provided the organization with a donation in the amount of $100,000. This donation will allow FACTNet not only to continue our work for months to come, but also to maintain the FACTNet-Scientology lawsuit and initiate new services in pursuit of our mission. Speaking of our mission, we recently reviewed, revised, and expanded the language of FACTNet's mission statement, and it is now even more inspiring than before. On June 16, FACTNet director Bob Mintonwas featured on the television news program Dateline NBC. Dateline focused on Bob's tireless work in opposition of Scientology's practices, and on the harassment he has endured at the hands of Scientology because of his work. See page 8 for a brief review. FACTNet has enhanced its news-providing capabilities. In addition to more news stories in this newsletter, we are posting more frequent and timely Headline stories to the FACTNet web site at www.factnet.org. We welcome suggestions and ideas for the newsletter, the web site, or FACTNet in general. Please forward your correspondence to manage@factnet.org or . Thanks! Sincerely, In this newsletter, "Cult Awareness Network" and "CAN" refer to the original organization established with that name, before rights to the name were bought by Scientology. Your donations at workWe strive to stretch each contribution to its fullest. In so doing, we track use of the FACTNet web site use versus operating costs incurred by FACTNet. For May: FACTNet web site hits: 179,438 FACTNet-Scientology litigation updateScientology's 1995 raid of FACTNet and ensuing lawsuit propelled FACTNet into national news. At issue are the positive aspects of free speech and the future of nonprofit libraries, versus Scientology's agenda to silence its critics. FACTNet has spent over $2 million on the lawsuit, and we are committed to raising the additional funds needed to win this important case. For a full account of the litigation, please see raid.html. August 4, 1998: Pretrial conference --- This editorial/opinion/news alert has been provided or
distributed by FACTNet, Inc. (Fight Against Coercive Tactics Network.) Since
1993 we have been the largest online news and referral service as well as
research archive for defending freedom of thought and mind from all forms of
unethical influence tactics, mind control and mental coercion/torture used in
destructive cults and fundamentalist groups. FACTNet is a tax deductible, IRS
Approved 501(c)(3) non profit organization.
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